What Gitmo detainees are reading: John Grisham books allowed after 'misunderstanding'

Two books by John Grisham—The King of Torts and The Innocent Man—are no longer off limits to a Guantanamo detainee.

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog (sub. req.) inquired about the books after learning they had been seized from a lawyer who brought them for a detainee. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale tells the newspaper it was all “a misunderstanding by some junior staff of what constitutes permitted reading materials.”

Detainees looking for more reading material can visit the prison library, which has more than 19,000 books, a spokesman told the Law Blog. The Harry Potter series is a big favorite, and there’s also a Grisham section.

Some high-value detainees who are housed separately have even been allowed to receive the erotic bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey.